04/10/2005 | Session
Freedom of religion is the key to protecting human rights, including women’s rights, according to the UN's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Asma Jahangir, who addressed PACE today as part of a debate on women and religion in Europe. "The link between the state and religion is often at the origin of problems relating to women’s rights," said Ms Jahangir. Welcoming her, President Rene van der Linden said Ms. Jahangir had been a critic of blasphemy laws in her home country, Pakistan, and a staunch defender of human rights, including women's rights.
04/10/2005 | Session
European governments should guarantee the separation between church and state to ensure that women are not subjected to “religiously-inspired policies and laws”, for example in the area of family, divorce and abortion law, PACE said today. Approving a report on women and religion in Europe by 84 votes to 16, the parliamentarians declared: “Women’s rights are often curtailed or violated in the name of religion”. Freedom of religion and respect for culture and tradition should never be accepted as a pretext for such violations, they said.
04/10/2005 | News
The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, addressing PACE today, called for "structured co-operation" between the Council of Europe and the OIC to promote understanding between cultures and religions, which he described as "the most pressing issue of our time". Extremism went against the spirit of Islamic values, Mr Ihsanoglu stressed, pointing out that Islamic civilisation in the past fourteen centuries had stood for human rights, justice, tolerance and compassion.
03/10/2005 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President René van der Linden paid tribute to Simon Wiesenthal, who died on 20 September at the age of 96, at the opening of the Assembly's autumn session. "Mr Wiesenthal devoted five decades of his life to hunting war criminals. Today, there are still war criminals at large, and we too must be relentless in our efforts and in our commitment to bringing them to justice. Whatever other issues may complicate our agenda, we must never forget that the principles that inspired Simon Wiesenthal are the principles that underlie our own organisation and that remain as valid and important now as they have ever been," he said.
03/10/2005 | News
"The New Neighbourhood Policy should be a great opportunity for the Council of Europe. By sharing our many years of experience and our unrivalled expertise, we can further enhance our co-operation with the European Union by contributing to the development, implementation and assessment of its external policies," PACE President René van der Linden said today in his opening speech to the PACE autumn session in Strasbourg.
03/10/2005 | Session
PACE will hold an urgent debate on "Europe and bird flu - preventive health measures" on Thursday 6 October. This afternoon the parliamentarians adopted the final order of business for the Autumn session (3 to 7 October 2005), including a day of debates on inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. "Education and religion" will be the subject of a debate on 4 October attended by the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. The UN's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion Asma Jahangir will take part in a debate on "Women and religion in Europe". On the same day, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is expected to discuss the Alliance of Civilisations project launched by the UN.
03/10/2005 | Session
Maria Postoico (UEL), a member of the Assembly since 2000, has just been elected as new Vice-President with respect to Moldova. The 20 Vice-Presidents chair plenary debates when the Assembly President is not available. They may also be called on to fulfil some of the President's other responsibilities.
03/10/2005 | President
Strasbourg, 03.10.2005 – Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden today welcomed the EU decision to start membership talks with Turkey. Speaking at a press conference earlier today, he had called on the EU to start talks with Turkey immediately: "There was a unanimous decision last December to begin accession talks with Turkey: Europe must now meet its promises and commitments, just as Turkey must fulfil all its obligations and commitments."
03/10/2005 | Session
PACE today called on European governments to co-operate in managing migratory flows between countries of origin and host countries in order to have a positive impact in both directions socially, economically and even politically. The parliamentarians noted that many migrants send money to relatives, while others pick up professional skills or ideas about democracy and human rights, which could help to boost development in their countries of origin. According to PACE, co-development policies would improve migratory flows in the interest of countries of origin, host countries and migrants themselves. Following the recommendations of the rapporteur (Rudy Salles, France, ADLE), PACE listed a series of 17 measures to promote co-development.
03/10/2005 | Bureau
PACE’s Bureau today decided to send a fact-finding mission to the Chechen Republic on the occasion of the elections on 27 November 2005. The delegation – composed of one member from each political group together with Andreas Gross, the Chair of the ad hoc Sub-committee for the organisation of the Round Table on the political situation in the Chechen Republic, will report back to the Bureau with its conclusions.
03/10/2005 | President
On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of German reunification, PACE President René van der Linden stressed that this was the first Eastern enlargement of free Europe. "It paved the way for Central and Eastern European countries towards the Council of Europe, but also for EU and NATO membership. It made a fundamental contribution to strengthening Europe. With its competence in both East and West, Germany remains a crucial partner not only in the Council of Europe, but also for the further development of Europe," he said. He also stressed the importance of political leadership and called for vision for Europe whilst paying tribute to Helmut Kohl and Jacques Delors for their outstanding contribution to building Europe.
03/10/2005 | Session
PACE today welcomed the working draft of a binding UN instrument to fight enforced disappearances – situations where people are abducted by the state, or groups acting with its acquiescence, followed by concealment of their fate. If the draft is further negotiated, the parliamentarians called for partial retroactive application, no amnesty for perpetrators and no possibility for them to be tried in military courts. Rapporteur Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) – author of an earlier PACE report on enforced disappearances in Belarus – said Council of Europe member states should in any case make declarations maximising the "protective effect" of the treaty.